2671: Prosignals & Prowords Apr 10, 2022

Procedure words (prowords) are code words used for spoken radio telephone that developed from Morse code procedure signals (prosignals). One difference between a prosignal and a normal abbreviation is that prosignals often signal to the operators themselves, not to abbreviate the message they would send. The most famous prosign would likely be SOS, which officially does not stand for anything except signalling for help. Likewise, the most famous proword would probably be 'rodger', which signals that the message was received clearly. The history there is that it is from the once-encoded R meaning 'received' and during WWII the spelling alphabet for R was 'rodger', though now it would be 'romeo'. Other famous prowords would include 'over', 'out', 'mayday' & 'wilco' (will comply), though due to the greater efficiency of speech, there are not nearly as many prowords as Morse Code abbreviations or prosignals.